Graduate Quantum Mechanics

Winter-Spring
2019 Welcome! This is
PH6004, a graduate course on Quantum Mechanics.

Textbook:
Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Edition, Steven
Weinberg

Class Venue:
S4-621

Class Times: Mondays
10-11:50 am; Wednesdays 9-9:50 am

My Office: S4-718

E-mail:
yizen [dot] chu [at] gmail [dot] com

My Office Hours:
Mondays 1-2 pm

Graduate Teaching
Assistant: Oktavianus Gea

Office:
S4-402

E-mail:
oktavgea1994 [at] g [dot] ncu [dot] edu [dot] tw

Office Hours:
Wednesdays 1-3 pm

- Yi-Zen

Disability
If you have a disability that you
think I should know about, and if you need special
accomodations, please feel free to speak to me after
class or e-mail me to set up a meeting.

Academic
Integerity You are encouraged
to discuss with your classmates the material covered
in class, and even work together on your
assignments. However, the work you turn in must be
the result of your own effort. If I find that you
copied your work from some place else, you will
immediately receive zero credit for that particular
piece of work. If you plagarized your classmate,
your classmate will also receive zero credit for
her/his/their work, unless (s)he/they can prove to
my satisfaction (s)he/they were unwilling
participant(s) of your dishonesty.

Syllabus
and Grading Scheme

We will be covering
Weinberg's Chapter 4 and beyond. This includes:

Spin, Rotation, Wigner-Eckart, Bosons vs
Fermions etc.

Symmetries & Conservation Laws

Approximation Methods, Zeeman & Stark
Effects, Berry Phase

Open Quantum Systems

Path Integrals

Scattering, Optical Theorem, "In" and "Out"
States

Canonical Formalism, Constrained Hamiltonian
Systems

Quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation

Because I wish to reward
hard work during the semester, I will give most
weight -- 75% of your total grade -- to the
homework you turn in. The final paper will
take up the rest of the 25%.

Homework (75%): I
recommend starting your homework as soon as possible
-- do not wait until the day before it is due to do
it! Note: I will
not accept late homework -- just turn in whatever
you have done at the time/day it is due.

Final (25%) (Due Monday 17 June 2019, 11:59
pm): Write a 15-20 page
paper discussing a topic related to quantum
computing. For instance, explain the need for
quantum key distribution and contrast it against its
classical counterpart(s). What are the schemes
available, and their vulnerabilities (if any)?
Describe RSA, the public-key encryption method, as
well Shor's algorithm; how does the latter render
the former potentially un-secure? Or, explain the
need for quantum error corrections and provide
explicit examples. Or, what is the current
experimental status of humanity's attempt to build a
quantum computer? Etc. Make sure your paper is
readable to a graduate student who knows quantum
mechanics but does not know quantum computing.

Writing guidelines for final paper
The paper should be written in
English, and the font size should be 12 points.
Your writing will be judged firstly by the accuracy,
breadth and depth of the content; but also by the
clarity of the exposition. Make sure you cite your
sources carefully and provide proper credit whenever
appropriate. Do not plagiarize! Turn in your
papers in PDF format; and e-mail them to
both Oktavianus and me.